


A Vampire by Any Other Name

by farad



Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-07
Updated: 2010-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:46:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farad/pseuds/farad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the Pegasus Galaxy, some old things are new again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Vampire by Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> This is a crossover with the Stargate Atlantis universe but the only shared characters are the Wraith. It's also an AU of an AU in that Vin and JD are teens in this, making in a loose aberration of the "Family Matters" AU.
> 
> Thanks to my wonderful betas!! All screw-ups are my own!

_'He is one of us.' The wide eyes glittered against the ghastly pale flesh. 'He led us to you.'_

He struggled against the ones holding him, but it was no use. They were bigger and stronger, and though they made no sound, he would have sworn they were laughing at him.

The leader leaned in closer, the wisps of his thin chin-beard tickling over Chris' face. 'It is a shame that there are not more of you, but then, there are not many of us. We came only to collect our own. Quite nice of you to care for them so well.'

The Wraith leader licked his lips, his teeth, with all their points, flashing.

But Chris' attention was caught by the one behind him. JD, wide-eyed but smiling, his skin the pasty grey of the Wraith, his dark hair long and pulled back off his face, Wraith-like. He wouldn't take on the complete Wraith form because of the equal balance of Ancestor gene in his DNA.

To his other side stood Vin, almost completely transformed. His angular face was even sharper, cheekbones high and prominent under the shiny grey skin. His hair was now the white of the Wraith, but it was still long and curly, hanging wild around his face and over his shoulders. There were markings on his forehead and cheekbone, the strange tattoos that designated him as a fighter. They were blue, matching the intensity of his eyes, blue, but still human.

'Your race's compassion will be your downfall,' the one before him laughed. 'But we can show compassion as well. We will let your deaths be quick.'

He gestured and Chris watched as Vin moved to one side. Buck was there suddenly, struggling between two more of the silent Wraith, just like Chris.

'Vin,' the other man gasped, his expression unusually worried, 'it's me, Buck. You don't have to - '

But before he could finish the statement, Vin had drawn back his hand, then plunged it forward, palm down, to rest over Buck's heart.

Buck screamed, the sound of it cutting through Chris like a knife. He was aware that he was begging, that he was pleading, calling to Vin, the boy he had rescued, the boy he had come to love as his own. But Buck was aging, dying, the life being sucked out of him and into this thing that was no longer human.

This thing that turned to him, blue eyes wide and gleaming and now carrying the reptilian arcs of a full Wraith.

He cried out –

"Chris!"

Warm hands on his shoulders, shaking him from the nightmare. Buck, warm and safe and very much alive.

"Chris, wake up, it was a – "

"I know," he said, breathing hard and sitting up.

Buck backed away, his hand sliding from Chris' shoulder to rest on his belly as he reclined back into the cocoon of their bed. "What was it?"

Chris shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

"Chris?" Buck coaxed. "You were calling for me."

The image of Buck's face, lined and aged, flashed through his mind, and his breath caught.

"Chris?" Buck pushed up, coming to kneel. The blankets fell around him, letting in the cold night air.

"I'm all right," he said, his voice hoarse. He let his hands drop away, turning to look at his partner. It was almost a relief to see him as he was, dark hair unkempt, tired eyes, face scruffy with beard stubble and the imprints of interrupted sleep.

Buck smiled at him, leaning in for a quick kiss to his temple. "This is the fourth night in a row. You want to talk about it yet?"

Chris closed his eyes, accepting the contact and its security. He didn't answer, so after a few seconds, Buck continued, "Or are you gonna go check on the boys again?"

He blinked, looking up to catch Buck's gaze. He wasn't aware he'd been that obvious – but then, Buck always had known him too well.

"Go back to sleep," he said quietly, lifting one hand to touch Buck's cheek. "I won't be long."

"You never are," Buck agreed. He caught Chris' hand, holding it – and Chris – for a few seconds as he added, "They're good boys. Been through hell and back – especially Vin. Don't give up on 'em, Chris, not until Nathan knows for sure."

He nodded, wishing he'd never let Buck talk him into this plan – well, that plan. The plan to free two boys from a Genii research facility –or torture chamber, as Nathan had deemed it. Damn Nathan too.

Now here they were, three months later, crashed on a desert planet, Josiah and Buck trying to fix the ship, Nathan trying to find out what the odds were that their two rescued boys were going to turn into full-blown Wraiths and when, and Ezra and Chris trying to keep them supplied with food and water.

Not that the boys weren't helping. JD was a genius – certifiable. What he considered to be 'tinkering' with the computers on their ship had so far managed to get them heat and shielding during the dust storms and strange rains that came out of nowhere, flooding the area and almost drowning them. And so far, he had managed to come up with ideas for scavenging the parts and rebuilding what they could.

And Vin . . . there was the problem, though, wasn't it.

Chris pushed himself from the bed, pulling on his jumpsuit and boots quickly in the chill.

The door to their small room opened easily – another thing JD had done, coming up with a plan that Josiah had been able to implement to convert the batteries to a solar charge. It allowed them to close the doors at night, knowing they would open, and to have low-level lighting throughout the ship, so they weren't stumbling around in complete darkness.

The ship was small, a transport they had stolen to get out of the research facility. There were four chambers off the main body, one that he and Buck had taken, one that Nathan and Josiah shared, one that was a medical unit, and one that Ezra had taken. The boys slept in one corner of the main room.

JD did, anyway.

As Chris entered the main room, he wasn't surprised to find Vin's eyes on him, shining in the faint light that rose from the recessed panels that bisected the walls. The boy was in a defensive crouch, poised between hiding and flight just beneath the opaque window that comprised the upper part of the inner door of the ship's airlock. They had stopped sealing the outer door at night, the energy necessary for it better used for other things.

Chris stepped far enough into the room to let the door to their quarters close. But he moved no farther.

Part of him hated the people who had imprisoned the boy, torturing him in their quest to learn more about the Wraith genes that comprised one quarter of his genetic structure. They had learned early in his young life that he had the Wraith ability to regenerate tissue. They hadn't cared, apparently, about the three-quarters of him that was human.

Part of him hated that he understood what they had been doing to Vin, what they had been hoping to gain. To learn.

Maybe that was what was showing on his face now. The boy shrank farther back into himself, his slender back pressed solidly against the door. It was locked – they had learned within days of their arrival that he wandered at night; sealing the door was more for his protection than to trap him. He had been locked in a veritable cell for almost ten years, as Nathan understood the records he had managed to download before their escape.

He craved freedom, something Chris understood. He was terrified of humans, something else Chris understood.

But in the depth of the night, like now, all Chris could feel was the threat of those Wraith genes. The danger.

He stared across the distance, holding the boy's gaze.

Fear. It was always there, but stronger now, as if he knew Chris' thoughts. Knew that Chris didn't trust him.

He dropped even lower, to his knees, his arms folding around his skinny body. He was shivering, perhaps from the cold, but more likely from terror, provoked by Chris.

He was intimidating a child – not really a child, part of his brain reasoned; according to the records, the boy was in mid-adolescence. Past the point where he should have started the transition, if he were going to turn from food-eater to soul-sucker.

But he only had one-fourth of the Wraith genes, so his transitional age could be delayed. He could start the mutation at any time.

"Vin?" The word was mumbled, sleepy – JD.

Chris didn't look away, and felt a little victory when the blue eyes wavered, darting toward the other boy and then back to him.

"Vin?" This call was a little louder and a little clearer; JD was waking, and feeling the tension in the room.

Chris relented, shifting slightly. Slowly, he let his gaze move through the dimness to the corner where JD was pushing himself into a sitting position. He was rubbing his eyes, child-like, looking younger than his age. He was in early adolescence, according to the records, physically less developed than Vin but mentally and emotionally more mature.

He had one-quarter Wraith, but he also had one-quarter of the Ancestors' genes. While only half human, less human than Vin, he carried a direct link to those who had protected this galaxy for so long.

"Chris?" JD's voice was puzzled, and when he dropped his hand from his face, meeting Chris' eyes, there was no fear there. "Everything all right? Where's Vin?"

The boy was pushing at his blankets then, worried, and Chris held out a hand to stop him. "It's all right, he's right there." He gestured toward the door, realizing as he did so that from where JD was, he couldn't see Vin.

But JD understood. He sighed, but continued to extricate himself from the bed. "We're fine, Chris," he said shortly, stumbling out of the bed. He reached for his jacket – one of Buck's old ones, throwing it around his shoulders as he ambled over to the door. To Vin. "Come on," he said softly, holding out a hand to the other boy. "He's not going to hurt you. Come back to bed."

Chris watched as Vin's gaze flickered from him to JD and back. It was annoying when he slowly rose to his feet, letting JD catch him by the upper arm and balance him, letting JD stand between them.

Letting JD protect him from Chris – as if Chris would hurt him.

The echo of the dream floated through his mind, Buck's scream, followed by a little voice reminding him that he could very easily hurt Vin.

JD was coaxing him back toward the corner, murmuring things that Chris couldn't hear. Vin went, his head down, his shoulders hunched, his face hidden by the curtain of his hair as it fell forward. He wasn't looking at Chris now, trusting JD.

Three months they had been here, on this planet, and in those three months, Vin still feared them all – perhaps not as much as he had those first few days, when he had hidden under the ship's seats, responding only to JD. Now, he would do what he was told as long as he didn't have to get close to anyone, and he would let both Buck and Josiah get near enough to him to tend wounds and show him how to do things – near enough for them to see some of the scars he tried to hide.

Scars, on a body that healed itself. Chris had some idea what that meant about what Vin had suffered.

He also had some idea about what sort of mentality survived such treatment.

It showed itself now as Vin moved past the bed they had improvised from several of the seats to settle in a small space between it and the wall. There was a nest there, a blanket, the jacket Nathan had provided for him, and a light that burned whenever Vin was there. He couldn't sleep without it. Not that he slept a lot.

"He'll sleep," JD announced with a certain edge in his voice. "He's not going to hurt you, Chris."

Chris quirked a grin. "No, he's not," he agreed.

JD glared at him, understanding the underlying message.

He turned, moving back into the sensor range of the door to his and Buck's quarters. He thought he heard a small noise from the floor, but as he looked back over his shoulder, JD was bent over Vin, hiding him.

Fucking Wraiths.

*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;

It wasn't a real surprise that Vin was the one who found it.

He tended to wander away – always finding his way back, of course, whether Chris wanted him to or not. He had been the one to first find the small oasis several clicks from their crash site, the one to discover that the small above-ground burble actually sprang off a larger stream beneath the nearby plateau.

He had been the one to find the small caves that dotted the base of another rise of mountains – caves that were homes for small herds of goat-like creatures that became staples in their limited diet and clothing supply.

So it stood to reason that he would be the one to find the remains of a human settlement.

"Where the hell have you been?" Nathan demanded from the doorway of the ship when the boy trotted into their camp as the shadows were growing long. "How many times do I have to tell you not to be gone so long – you could have – "

"Nathan." Josiah's voice was calm, yet held the hardness of authority. He sat on one of the seats they had moved outside, along one side of the ship. At the right times of the day, the position afforded some protection from the sun and periodic winds.

Nathan quieted, sighing as Vin dropped to kneel, his head down, his arms rigid on the dirty fabric of his thin pants.

He held something in one hand, though, and Chris frowned, finding it oddly familiar. "What have you got?" he demanded, rising from the shade of the ship to step closer.

Vin jerked, looking up at him, then scrambling away. This time, Josiah sighed, but his voice was still calm and his words measured as he said, "Vin? You have something to show us?"

Wide eyes – still no reptilian lines – looked at the older man, then Vin stretched out his hand toward him.

It looked like a –

Chris stepped closer, not thinking, and the thing was suddenly in the air, Vin darting away and out of reach.

Annoyed, Chris barely managed to catch it before it fell into the sand. "Goddamit," he snarled, glaring after the boy, "you could have – "

"You know better," Josiah admonished quietly, but he had risen as well, coming over to Chris. "You scare him more than any of us – even Nathan and his instruments."

Chris didn't bother to answer, turning his attention to the object in his hand.

"Data disk," Josiah said quietly. He looked up to meet Chris' gaze. "Looks old. Pretty dirty. Could be from a different crash. Scouting party. Any number of things."

"Only one way to find out," Chris said. "Ezra!" he called, knowing the man was hiding out in the ship, avoiding any real work. They had hunted yesterday, killing several of the goat-things, so they had meat for several days.

"What?" came the annoyed response.

"Get Buck on the radio and tell him to get JD back here – we've found something. Then take a look at this and tell me what you think." He was turning it over in his hand, studying it. "Vin!" he barked, "Get over here!"

It was a waste of breath, he knew, and he also knew that he was going to be pissed off by the reaction his command got. He wasn't disappointed on either score.

He looked up, anger coiling in his abdomen as he noted Vin's absence.

"Chris," Josiah started, "let me – "

"We risked our asses – end up trapped on this damned planet to save him – the least he can do is - "

"Let us treat him the way the Genii did?" Josiah's voice was mild, almost amused.

It was that, perhaps, that annoyed Chris more than the words. "You truly suggesting that we would treat them the same way the Genii did? Hell, we can't get close enough to Vin to – "

"Not for want of trying," Josiah answered. "I hear you've been up at all hours checking on them, scaring Vin, upsetting JD."

Chris turned to glare at him now. "I can't walk around at night in my own ship?" he demanded.

Josiah shook his head. In lieu of answering, he rose from the seat and said more quietly, "I'll get him. Think you can let me do the talking?"

As if he had a choice.

By the time Josiah returned, Vin trailing distantly behind, Ezra had managed to link the data disc to one of the non-networked computers. He, Nathan, and JD were trying various programs to access the disk, while Buck and Chris stood off to one side, debating the implications of the discovery.

"Well?" Chris demanded, glaring at Vin, who slowed even more, his gaze shifting nervously from group to group.

Buck eased in, obstructing Chris' view as Josiah answered, "He found them in what sounds to be a ruin several clicks away – just at the outside of our sensor range. He's going to take me there tomorrow. From what he described, though, it sounds like it was an actual settlement of some sort – small, but people lived there."

"Not another crash?" Buck asked, glancing from Josiah to Vin.

"Not where he found this," Josiah answered. "But he didn't scout around a lot. Once he realized it was technological, he came straight back." He caught Chris' gaze. "Didn't want to piss anybody off."

Chris shook his head, refusing to answer.

Not that he had to – at that moment, cheering erupted from the other three.

"Got it!" Nathan called, as JD barked directions to Ezra. "It's a journal of some sort!"

Late that night, as they finished it, they knew it was the journal of the destruction of the planet.

Fucking Wraith.

Chris paced around outside, and the cold air actually felt good at the moment, tempering his fury. They'd spent the past seven hours getting to know Jras Mornn, the leader of a small outpost of humans who had come here to escape the Wraith. He had chronicled the building of their settlement, the growth of their small band of refugees into small families, the history of their survival as they learned how to farm this barren land, how to increase the herds of the small groups of animals they had brought along – the goat-things, as well as various fowl breeds, at least some of which had not survived the new environment.

Only in the last hour had he begun the tale of the return of the Wraith, starting with the discovery of the probe balls that had flown over them one day, only to return several weeks later.

Followed several months later by the ships. They had known then that it wouldn't be long, but they had had few options. Their weapons were rudimentary now, bows and arrows, staffs and slingshots. They had some technology left, but most of it had been used for medical reasons and for maximizing harvests and shelter from the elements.

The five laser rifles that still held charge were no match for the Wraith. Jras' last entry had been made with his home exploding around him, his lined and weathered face warning any who found this data disc that the Wraith explored this world every so often, to see if others had come here to escape them.

Fucking Wraith.

"Chris?"

Buck stepped from the hatchway, walking easily over the distance between them. The stars were bright tonight, as were the two moons that hung low in the sky, casting the desert in pale colors of yellow and silver.

He came in close, but he had known Chris long enough to know better than to intercede directly. Instead, he stopped close enough to touch if he wanted to. If Chris wanted him to.

"Think it was coincidence that he found it?" Chris asked, still pacing.

"As opposed to what?" the taller man asked, slouching into a comfortable position. "He knew it was there?"

Chris shrugged, even though part of him screamed 'hell, yes, he's Wraith!' "Maybe something else in the ruins called to him – what if there was a beacon there that sensed him, or identified his Wraith genes – "

"Chris." The word was soft, sad even. "Let the boy alone." He reached out a hand then, catching Chris at the elbow and pulling him to stillness. "Vin says he found the ruins by accident. Now, none of us can say how the genes affect him, but he said that he didn't sense anything from the ruins – just empty, burned-out buildings, crumbling away. We've all lost to the Wraith – those boys just as much. Can't you cut them a little slack?"

"They're fucking Wraith, Buck, Nathan himself said we don't know enough about them and the genes. If this had gone as we planned, they'd be turned over to people who could find out. I don't agree with what was being done to them by the Genii – that was why I agreed to get them out. But I didn't agree to keeping them, either, and now here we are, trapped on a planet that the Wraith know about, in the company of two kids who could become Wraith at any time – "

"You think we should take 'em out and shoot 'em now?"

Chris stopped, turning to face his partner, almost answering before he registered the note of actual fear in Buck's voice.

Instead, he blew out a breath, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Dammit," he swore, but there wasn't a lot of heat in it.

"But it ain't really the boys you're worried about, is it?" Buck said, stepping closer. He relaxed the grip on Chris' arm, letting his hand slide down to rest on one closed fist. "You don't worry about JD much at all – he's got access to all our computer systems, plays with the ship's controls and life-support. You're putting a lot of faith in the power of the Ancestors' genes to temper his Wraith genes. A lot of unfounded faith."

"I'm okay with shooting 'em both," he answered, but he kept his tone light – as light as he could.

Buck shook his head, but chuckled. "It's funny – the one quality in Vin that worries you most is the one you two have in common."

Chris tilted his head in question, waiting as Buck moved in closer. "I ain't got Wraith genes," he said shortly as Buck leaned in.

"No," Buck agreed, "but you both don't say ten words in a day if you can avoid it."

The kiss that followed precluded any discussion on the point, and Chris let himself be convinced to go inside, to turn attention to more immediate, and far more pleasant concerns.

*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;

Chris was prepared for it to be bad – and it lived down to his expectations and beyond. The buildings were barely standing, rough wood that was charred and falling apart, sections of roofs and walls – or whole walls gone.

Chris stood in the middle of what had once been a road through the small collection of buildings. Vin had led them here, a trek that had taken a little over three hours. The boy had made good time, probably better on his own; he was small but almost all muscle, his body recovering well and quickly from the starvation the Genii had been subjecting him to in order to induce, they hoped, the transition. Either it had failed, or his rescue had come before he hit the point of depletion that would have triggered the transition; despite his body's Wraith-based healing abilities, it had taken them almost a month to get him back to the point of muscle recovery. His rehabilitation had progressed remarkably since then.

Now, he was inside one of the buildings, one that seemed to have withstood the assault better than the others. Josiah and Buck had gone in with him, offering him protection as well as searching for whatever else there was to find.

Ezra and Chris looked around, sticking close to each other but not too close. Chris observed with his senses while Ezra utilized their computer-instruments.

"The decay suggests that the destruction occurred over seventy cycles ago," Ezra said, studying the digital readout. "No human life signs other than our own. No Wraith signs other than the boy's."

"Any other energy readings?" Chris asked, standing in the doorway to one of the collapsing buildings.

"Nothing in operation. But I suspect that there may be some sort of generator or the like here."

In the end, they did find a generator, and other things they could use – several archaic computers, several laser rifles that, while depleted, could possibly be recharged, and some basics – clothing, several more data discs, some bottles that looked to be medicines or unguents – things they would take to Nathan, who was back at the ship with JD.

The trek back took longer, all of them burdened with more weight – physical and emotional.

While Vin had led on the way to the ruins, he trailed behind on the way back. Ezra had taken point, Buck behind him, but hanging back to be close to Chris in the middle. Josiah and Vin brought up the rear, the boy lagging and Josiah dropping back to stay with him.

At one point, when Chris looked back and realized he couldn't see them, he called a halt. They shared a canteen, Ezra looking at it with distaste but knowing better than to verbalize his disdain, while they waited for Josiah and Vin to catch up.

They came into view walking side-by-side, Josiah gesturing with his big hands, the movement accompanying whatever words he was speaking. Vin was watching him, his lips quirked slightly, his eyes attentive and bright – and not scared.

He looked like an adolescent human youth, enjoying a stroll on a sunny day with a mentor. He looked happy.

Until he looked ahead and saw Chris and the others waiting for them.

The illusion vanished as if it had never been, the smile gone, the gait slowing, the fear clouding out any other emotion.

Josiah noticed it after several steps, and he looked up, his own face changing as well. He nodded toward Chris, his hands dropping as he stopped talking.

But one of them fell gently to Vin's shoulder, and while Vin tensed, as he always did, he didn't stop or drop into a defensive posture.

"If you go a little slower," Chris drawled, ignoring the confusion that tickled at his awareness, "we can spend the night camping out in the desert. Think that'll be fun?"

Josiah shook his head, but a smile played at his features. "You and Ezra need to spend a little more time together, Brother," he said as they neared the others. Vin was hanging back, his eyes on the ground, his hair once more hiding his face. "Perhaps you can find even more things to find disagreeable about this planet."

"Planet ain't so bad," Chris countered, stretching as he stood up, then lifting his projectile rifle, checking the load from habit, "but the company could stand some improvement."

He saw Josiah stiffen, felt even Buck tense in irritation, but it was Ezra who commented, "I, for one, could stand the company of a room full of marks, a decent glass of liquor, and the companionship of a beautiful young lady – not necessarily in that order. While I have nothing against anyone here," he glanced quickly at Josiah, then at the boy, "I must say that such constancy is rather tedious after a point."

"Yeah," Buck agreed, dryly, "I'm sure that's what Chris meant." He brushed past Chris as they started out, falling in with Vin and Josiah.

As if he hadn't made his point strongly enough, Chris awoke later that night to find himself alone; Buck had never come to bed, and when he made his way into the main room, worried, he found his partner crashed out with JD, Vin on the floor nearby.

In sleep, Buck looked just as much a kid as JD. Vin looked just as much a kid as he had that afternoon.

He dreamed again, after he went back to bed, but it was different, blue fear lurking behind the Wraith.

*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*

"What's this one?" JD asked, holding up one of the smaller items they had brought back from the village.

"Don't touch!" Ezra snapped, pulling the small device from his hand. "We don't know – which makes it imperative that you not play with them!"

"I'm not playing," JD sniped back. "Chris told me to look at this stuff with you, to see if we could use any of it." He pushed at his hair, and Chris thought it was time to cut it.

If it had been Adam, Sarah would never have allowed –

He cut that thought off, letting the anger replace it. Adam was dead, Sarah was dead, and this Wraith brat was nothing like his son, his very human son.

"Don't touch anything you don't recognize," he snarled, stepping up to the table. He glared at the boy, refusing to see anything else of Adam in him – refusing to see anything human in him.

Unlike the other one, though, this one – this damned one, stood up, glaring back. "How the fuck am I supposed to recognize it if I can't touch it?" he shot back.

For an instant, Chris almost struck him – for disobedience, for language, for general dislike.

But even as he clenched his fist, his arm flexing, he felt a presence at his side. Turning, he found the other one coming near – more near than he ever had before.

Near enough to catch Chris' wrist, holding it still.

Chris jerked, turning on the other, his free hand raised to retaliate –

Terror rolled off the boy in waves, his eyes so wide and deep they seemed endless. Chris could felt the tremors through the fingers clutching at him, see the fine shivers as they chased across the stark features.

But he didn't relent, didn't let go or drop away. He stood, waiting for the blow, merely hunching his shoulders as he held Chris way from JD.

Protecting him.

Chris let his hand drop, relaxing both of his arms. He stared as Vin blinked, his hand loosening slightly, but not yet releasing.

They stood that way for several long seconds, neither moving, each keeping to complete stillness.

"Vin," JD said quietly. "It's okay." His voice was a little higher than usual, a sign of his distress. "He's not going to hit me."

"No, he's not," Ezra agreed, his own voice as smooth as it always was. "Nor is he going to hit you. Right, Captain Larabee?"

Chris felt their eyes on him, then the presence of others behind him – Buck and Nathan, probably Josiah as well.

He was embarrassed, which didn't curb his anger any, but he was also surprised – enough so to be careful. "Let go of me," he said, keeping his voice level but firm. "Before I do decide to knock the hell out of you."

He heard someone behind him grunt in annoyance, saw Ezra's shoulders straighten.

But the hand holding him drew off and Vin hunched more, stepping back. His eyes flickered to JD, then down to the floor, and he retreated farther, almost tripping over one of the dismantled laser rifles Josiah had been working on.

"Having fun there, Chris?" Buck's voice was sharp, his anger, rare to rise, boiling. "Too bad we don't have some puppies around here for you to kick – "

"I don't want anyone touching anything that they don't recognize," he shot back, cutting off the other man. "We don't know if the Wraith left any tracking devices or beacons – "

"Yeah, beating the boys is one way to keep the Wraith away – "

"Buck." He turned, facing the other man.

Buck was squared off against him, the deep blue of his eyes showing a flash that Chris usually associated with desire, not his temper.

"You know what?" His tone was conversational, but Chris had known him a long time – long enough to know that this wasn't Buck being nice. "We need to get some of those scientists to do a study – maybe one of those big-money funded things, to find out if fear of the Wraith can cause a person to regress to the personality of the Wraith – "

"What do you want from me?" Chris snapped. "You want me to just accept that these two are perfect little angels who won't turn into Wraith? Who won't summon their kin the minute they get the chance – "

"We won't," JD countered from behind Chris. His voice was as hard as Chris' and as angry as Buck's. "We're not Wraith. We're human, as human as you are – do you have any idea what other genes you have in your composition?"

"Not Wraith," Chris countered, not turning around. "We don't know enough about the Wraith – "

"But we do know enough about the boys." Nathan stepped up behind Buck. He wasn't angry, but he was decisive. "Chris, your paranoia is getting out of hand. The boys are safe – hell, JD's Ancestors' genes counter every other gene he has – "

"And Vin?" he countered. "He's safe?"

Nathan sighed. "I'm testing his blood every day, Chris, you know that. So far, there's no sign of any transition – and yes, we know what to look for. The boys are no threat."

Maybe he was being over-reactive, he thought. Maybe the boys were innocent and he was convicting them with no reason.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair, feeling hot and tired, and sticky and tired – very tired.

"All right," he said quietly. "For now, don't touch - "

A low-level klaxon started, redirecting their attention to the security system.

Ezra moved first, bolting from his seat into the ship, Chris right behind.

"Proximity alarms," Josiah identified as they crowded into the ship. He took a position at the hatch, one of his rifles close to his body.

Buck had grabbed another one, but he was in the doorway to the cockpit, right behind Chris.

"Ship," Ezra said, reading off the screen. "Coming into the atmosphere, small, fast – fuck." His rare ineloquence alerted Chris before the words were said. "Wraith scout."

"How many in it?" he demanded, already considering his options. He turned to Buck, saying quickly, "Inventory weapons, let's get everything we can move."

"Ten," Ezra answered him. "They're making a sweep of the planet."

"Too coincidental that this happened after we found the village," Chris mused, too distracted to feel vindicated.

"Probably," Ezra answered, his attention on the computer. "They'll arrive quickly – we need to vacate – the caves?"

They had planned for this – when it came to the Wraith, one always assumed the worst and the best speed at which it could happen.

"Do it," Chris commanded. "Nathan!" he called, not surprised when their medic was found close to the boys. "We got company – you need to – "

"Already on it," Nathan said grimly. He was crouched in front of JD, rifling through his medi-kit. "We talked about this, you remember? It's to mute your connection to them."

"I can control mine," JD whined, and Chris had the urge to slap him.

Fortunately, Nathan wasn't sympathetic in the face of crisis. "No chances," he said, uncapping a hypodermic and, before JD could argue more, catching him by the hand and jabbing it into his wrist. "You know what this will do, make you woozy but not pass out – tamp down on your neuro transmitters."

JD was pissed, but the anger on his face passed into a sort of laxness, as if he were stoned.

Nathan turned to Vin, then, and Chris stepped forward, assuming this would be a battle. This was the one who fought.

But Vin didn't hesitate. Not even glancing at Chris, he held out his arm, pushing up the sleeve of the over-long shirt to expose dirt-streaked flesh.

Nathan looked up, catching the boy's eyes. He smiled a little, nodding once before pulling out another hypodermic needle. Vin flinched at the sight of it, and he closed his eyes tightly as Nathan popped off the sterile cap. The medic was far more gentle with this injection, angling it carefully and sliding is smoothly beneath the boy's skin, into the vein. Within seconds, Vin had also taken on the slack look of a junkie.

"Let's get moving," Chris ordered, grabbing up what he could.

By the time the Wraith scout passed over their crashed ship, they were moving away from it, as fast as they could. Chris and Buck were bringing up the rear, pushing the boys along behind Josiah and Ezra and Nathan. They stopped long enough to watch the ship fly over, hoping, hoping, that it would go on, but knowing that it wouldn't. As it started to circle back toward their crash site, Buck grabbed at his hand, pulling him along.

They cave was as prepared as they could make it with their limited supplies. Nathan directed the boys to the back, neither of them resisting in any way, while Josiah and Buck levered out several of the larger weapons they had stored here to the positions near the entrance that they had assigned them earlier.

Ezra was activating the security perimeter, bringing as many of the security monitors into play as they could.

"Limited charges," Josiah announced, charging the three recessed mounted laser rifles they had. "Don't fire until you can't miss."

It wasn't a warning they needed, but it never hurt to be reminded.

"Mines?" Chris called to Ezra, crouched before the box of grenades they had stored here soon after finding the caves.

"On-line now," Ezra announced. "We've only got 7 – I'm setting the three closest to the entrance for manual detonation, not pressure."

"Nobody goes out!" Chris called as loudly as he could. "Everybody got that?"

They all agreed, even JD who Nathan specifically challenged.

They didn't have time to get nervous about waiting. The Wraith appeared at the outer perimeter within minutes.

"They're tracking us," Ezra announced, focusing on the monitor. "Looks like three commanders, seven drones, three drones on point."

An explosion from outside shook the ground and momentarily overpowered any other sound. Then Ezra said with amusement, "Correction, five drones, one drone on point."

But the element of surprise was gone now, which had been their advantage.

The Wraith fell back, creating a semi-circle with one of the commanders in the center. He glanced to one of the drones, and the drone aimed his stunner, pressed the trigger, and another mine exploded, with no injuries.

"Dammit," Chris muttered. "Wait until they get closer," he said grimly, "let's set off the manual ones before they do, try to keep them a little off-balance."

Ezra nodded, but Chris was already turning to Josiah. "Shoot as soon as you've got clean fire. We need to take out as many as we can before they get to the cave."

Another rumble from outside, and Ezra called, "Drone down, but injured only."

He might be out of the game for several minutes, but his regeneration would have him back on his feet too soon.

Another explosion, followed by Ezra's terse, "No injuries."

Chris made his way to the entrance, crouching across from Buck. The Wraith were still too far away to see, but he felt trapped being inside. And worried about Buck.

"Boys okay?" Buck asked. He was wearing the distance-heat-goggles, so he didn't turn to look at Chris – the neon lines this close would momentarily blind him.

"They're in the back with Nathan," Chris answered, once more ignoring the flair of annoyance. "Hopefully not sending out any messages to our enemies – "

"They won't," Buck assured him, his voice terse. "Nathan took that drug from the lab where they kept the boys – it works, probably too good. I just hope he didn't give them too much."

An overdose could lead to brain damage – Nathan had seen the test results of that first-hand during his tenure as a research assistant at the facility – which was what had gotten them into this mess to start with. Right now, Chris wasn't so sure brain damage was a bad thing.

Another explosion, and this time they saw the flash – one of the closer ones. Chris heard a laugh from inside the cave before Josiah relayed through the network of radios, "Ez got two more of them on one of the manual mines. He thinks that they only sense the energy, which is off on the manual ones until he hits the release."

Chris nodded, filing that away for future reference. "You got 'em on visual?" he asked, unconsciously rubbing at the grip of his rifle.

"Yes," Josiah returned, "Coming into range now."

"Try to get the commanders," he said unnecessarily.

Six of them left, he thought, liking the odds better. They might get through this. This time. Until the Wraiths sent another ship – larger and with more troops, to find out what happened to this one.

He'd worry about that later – when he had a little more time. Right now –

A burst of laser fire from one of the mounted weapons brought him back to 'right now'. A guttural cry from Josiah let him know that he had scored a hit as well, and Chris could picture the big man, huge hands on the various controls to the three mounted guns, operating all three at the same time, from the sound of it. Catching the bastards in a cross-fire.

But they didn't have enough ammunition to do that too many times.

"Two more," Ezra reported thought the network. "Down to four, but they've gone into hiding – two commanders, two drones."

Four to five. They had weapons, but no longer surprise. And the Wraith were, if they chose to do so, in the position to lay siege.

It was the one problem with retreating to the caves.

Things were silent then, and still, nothing on any of the cameras or the sensors.

Waiting was not one of Chris' strengths, and as the minutes stretched, his restlessness grew.

He moved through the cave, checking Ezra and Josiah, who were as adrenalin-shaky as he was, and Nathan, who was moving between the team and the boys, monitoring them for awareness.

"Vin's twitchy," he reported as he and Chris intersected at one point. "I can give him another shot, but I don't know how safe that is."

"For him or us?" Chris countered. As Nathan's jaw stiffened, he continued. "We're taking no chances. I won't have him giving them any access to our plans or resources. Saving him from the Genii was one thing – getting all of us killed is not part of the plan."

Nathan took a deep breath, but nodded.

Chris made sure to grasp his shoulder as he continued on, moving back to Ezra once more.

It seemed like forever, but it was only about fifteen minutes. The voice that called to them was unquestionably Wraith, loud and resonant with the different frequencies and levels of pitch even over the small microphones attached to the mounted guns.

"Humans! Give us what is ours and we will leave!"

Chris leaned over Josiah's shoulder, watching through the cameras mounted on the gun sights.

"What is theirs?" Ezra muttered, looking over from where he sat at an improvised console several feet away. "What does he – "

"You have several of our own," the voice called, as if in answer. "We sense them!"

The boys, he thought. "Open the speakers," he ordered, stepping up to Ezra and their own mike.

"Humans! We will not let you keep prisoners of our – "

"They're not prisoners," he said calmly and as clearly as he could. "They are more human than Wraith and they want to be here."

There was a moment of silence, then the voice said, "They fear you. They are young, and they fear you."

"This is not open for discussion," he said, even though he wondered what they could get of the deal. Not much – the Wraith never kept promises, but if it bought them some time . . .

"We can wait for you," the Wraith said, a long hiss creating painful static. "You have limited resources, and you are trapped."

"Why do you want them?" he countered. "They are . . . " He thought back to something he had heard long ago, before his world had been culled. "Unclean. More human than Wraith."

A sort of laughter now, a rumbling sound that vibrated in a way that made Chris feel slightly sick. "That is not your concern, human. All you need to know is that if you want to live, you will surrender them to us."

"That's your trade then?" Chris pushed. "We give you the – the young, and you leave us alone?"

"There are few of you," the Wraith answered. "Not enough to bother with. Surrender to us the young and we will leave you, for now."

"Until they get reinforcements," Ezra said so quietly that it didn't carry to the microphone.

Chris nodded, but he said more loudly, "We will consider it." He slapped off the microphone before there was time for a response, rubbing at his head.

"Chris," Josiah said, his voice hard. "I know you don't trust the boys but - "

"Don't," he said, equally as hard. "I've made no promises."

"You can't trust the Wraith," Nathan stated the obvious. "Even if you give them the boys – "

"I know," he said shortly, holding up a hand. "Let me repeat myself – I've made no promises."

"But you're thinking about it." Buck's voice was cold and distant, carrying a slight echo from the radio network and the walls of the tunnel leading into the cave.

"All options open," he said shortly. "For now – what are our options for taking them out?"

There were a few, most of which were risky.

Nathan, of course, had the last word. "The drug only lasts for several hours. I gave Vin a booster of it – to calm him down. I suspect that the Wraith have been trying to reach his consciousness as he's not as well protected as JD."

Chris nodded, trying not to show any sign of his relief. At least his people were cautious, even if they thought he was paranoid.

"But I don't know how long we can keep them sedated like this – you already know the possibilities of brain damage. And completely sedating them might still give the Wraith access to their memories and their unconscious brains – the mind doesn't shut down the way a computer does when it's turned off. It's possible that the Wraith might find out more if we knock them out and leave them totally defenseless against telepathic invasion." Nathan closed his eyes and rolled his head on his neck, trying to relieve some of his tension.

Chris nodded, rubbing his own temple. He was passingly aware of the bottle of water worming its way into his hand as Josiah said, "We go when you're ready."

It was a stand-off of a sort, but they all knew that the disadvantage was theirs. There was a back-way out, of course, but nowhere they could go that they wouldn't be detected. The back-door would only work to give them the advantage in a direct attack on the Wraith.

Five to four. Only – they still had to have someone handle the boys.

Theoretically, they had the element of surprise again; the Wraith probably hadn't sensed that there was a maze through these hills.

But once Chris and his people cleared the tunnels, the Wraith would know they were there, predators that they were.

They had to move fast and be prepared for complete aggression.

They waited until the Wraith themselves grew restless, the two commanders wandering away from each other and leaving the drones to watch the cave. They stood out of range of the guns, of course, but they were stationary.

Two teams, Nathan and Josiah, Chris and Buck, Ezra on surveillance. Chris made sure he was last out of the main room of the cave, to take the opportunity to give the command – as if Ezra needed it.

"If the boys give you trouble, shoot them," he said, adjusting the strap of his goggles.

"Nathan says stunning them would be detrimental for us," Ezra answered distractedly, checking the monitors.

"I didn't say to stun them," Chris answered. "You cover your ass first, 'cause you're covering ours."

He didn't wait for a response, knowing that, of all of them, Ezra was the most practical. He'd do what he had to do.

They split off at one of the numerous forks in the tunnels, Josiah and Nathan going right, Buck and Chris going left. Each team had its target, and Ezra was keeping them posted on approximate locations.

Each pair used a different channel, so as not to be unnecessarily distracted. Wraith hunting – successful Wraith hunting – required absolute concentration.

Chris took point, but in the manner of things that happened with the Wraith, Buck was the one who came on him first.

The sound of laser fire from behind had Chris turning and dropping instantly, his own weapon at the ready. But there was no way to fire without possibly hitting Buck, as the Wraith was on him.

He moved without thinking, coming in fast and hard, hitting the Wraith in the back and pulling him to the ground. He rolled, hoping to move wide and clear, hoping Buck recovered enough to shoot the bastard.

But even as he thought it, Ezra's voice cut through clear and sharp, "One of the drones is on the move, your direction."

He came up on is knees, his rifle ready, his eyes scanning the terrain through the heat-goggles, looking for Buck, looking for the Wraith, finding them both too close together.

Finding the drone Wraith, not the commander.

He stood over Buck, who was on his knees, his hands on the ground and his chest heaving. His rifle was nowhere in sight, but the drone's was – held tightly to the back of Buck's head.

"Put down your weapon, or we will kill him." The commander, his voice resonating with the different pitches, and a sound that was so close to glee that it made Chris as angry as he was worried.

Not that his anger did anything other than keep him focused. He released the strap from the rifle, putting it carefully on the ground then holding up his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

The Wraith weren't gentle with them, which didn't surprise Chris in the least. He kept a close watch on their hands, and on Buck; he had taken a hard blow, Chris could tell, and was listing to the side as he walked. Chris wanted to help him, but the commander kept a stunner to his own head.

He hoped Josiah and Nathan had had better luck, but he'd didn't know; he had turned his receiver down after that last communication from Ezra, afraid of the distraction.

At the mouth of the cave, the Wraith pushed them to their knees, and Chris held his breath, thinking nothing about anything except finding an opening.

The commander stepped around to face them, the second drone taking his place at Chris' back.

"A trade?" the leader called loudly, his voice not so much for Chris as for the people inside the cave. "Give us our own and we will not kill them."

Yet, Chris thought, and knew that inside, Ezra was thinking the same thing.

The Wraith looked at Chris then, his eyes, golden in the bright light of the waning afternoon sun, feral. "Or – perhaps the ones inside have need of motivation?"

He would have thought it impossible to feel chill in this heat, but as the towering figure moved to stand before Buck, the dream came eerily back to mind, haunting him.

"I'll get them," he heard himself say, his voice hoarse.

The Wraith laughed then, a sound like metal scrapping against metal. Under it, he heard Buck mutter, "No, Chris. It won't work."

Not that the offer was going to matter. Without even answering, the Wraith pulled back his hand, then plunged it forward, driving it hard against Buck's chest.

The scream was as Chris remembered it, only louder and longer and it hurt more – because Chris was screaming as well.

He tried to move, to push the Wraith away, and for a brief instant, he was successful, breaking the connection between his lover and the killer. But the drone behind him was on him before he even made contact, hard blows between his shoulder blades, driving him down, while one meaty hand gripped his hair, trying to keep him still.

He knew that time was moving, things were happening faster than it seemed; but the memory of the dream was still dominant in his head – trapped beneath his guard, he could only see Buck in his mind's eye, the soft skin of his face aging as it had in the dream.

He pushed back, too afraid that time had stopped and Buck was dead, faintly surprised when his efforts gave him some limited sight.

The commander's head was rolling on his shoulders, his face taken on the look of orgasmic haze that went along with all Wraith feedings. He made low moaning sounds, and Chris struggled, desperate to save Buck, to break the chain of the dream, to wake up from this nightmare.

Something flashed at the corner of his vision, and the Wraith on Buck fell away with a shriek – then Chris heard the sound of laser fire, the staccato bursts of a weapon.

His captor stiffened, hanging more tightly on him, and for a few seconds, he couldn't breathe. When the weight shifted, it was quick and unexpected. He gasped, trying to get air back into his lungs, so that it took a while to realize what was happening around him.

The drone who had been holding him lay on the ground, seemingly dead. Beside him, Buck also was gasping, his face lined with pain and exhaustion, his eyes closed. But he was alive, and if he had lost years, he wasn't showing much aging.

The relief of that made him light-headed, enough so that his brain didn't quite engage when he heard voices.

A young voice.

His head jerked up then, and he took in the scene through a veil of confusion. The Wraith commander stood several meters away, his face strained now, and Chris noted that he had been hit several times with the laser rounds – but not killed. Probably because he had been feeding, he thought muzzily. He was sluggish, though, only his eyes showing the brightness of energy, sharp and angry.

Before him stood JD, the boy still looking drugged but less so, his eyes also flickering with anger. And something else, Chris thought, something . . . dangerous.

"We are not like you," JD said, "not at all." He held a gun, Chris realized, one of the hand weapons that Ezra had been carrying. It shook in his small hand, but it was pointed at the Wraith commander's head.

"No, young one, but you will be," the Wraith answered, smiling. "It is in your genes. Just because it hasn't activated yet – "

"We'll die before we let that happen!" JD yelled back. "We'll never be like you!"

"That can be arranged," the Wraith countered. "You can die with them." He lifted one hand, lazily waving toward Chris and Buck. "Or you can abide by our original offer – their lives for you."

Chris looked at the boy, then past him, to where Vin crouched. He understood then that Vin had been the one to tear the Wraith away from Buck.

The idea unsettled him a little, forcing a gratitude that contradicted what he thought he felt.

"You won't leave them alive," JD countered. "We know better – we know what you're thinking."

The Wraith leader lifted one eyebrow. "You believe you know what I'm thinking?" he asked.

JD frowned, his face looking as young as it was. "You're thinking that you can kill everyone else here as long as you get me – even Vin. You want him, but you don't have to have him. And you're mad at him for being able to pull you away from Buck."

For an instant, the Wraith actually looked surprised. But the expression was gone almost as soon as Chris saw it, and he wondered again at the powers JD possessed.

"If you want your young friend, he can come with us, to keep you company," the commander countered, his voice taking on a certain purr. "And if you will come with us, I will honor my promise not to kill the others."

There was silence then, and Chris saw Vin and JD exchange a glance. For the first time, he wondered if the two of them had their own telepathy; Nathan postulated that the Wraith genes would allow them to know of the Wraith when they were within a certain proximity, and it obviously allowed them to tap into the Wraith telepathic network – despite the drugs Nathan had promised would work – but – what about tapping into each other?

He would ponder it later – now was reserved for reacting as, with no warning other than that glance, Vin darted across the ground, moving with a speed that was uncanny, directly toward Buck and the drone that towered over him.

At the same instant, JD start firing the gun; the tremors that had wracked his small frame were gone, and he shot with an aim and speed that were in keeping with the best Chris had ever seen.

He was initially stunned – but he had little time to appreciate it; several meters away from his target, Vin sprang into the air, launching himself feet first at the drone. It took Chris no time at all to understand the plan – and his role in it.

Before Vin connected with the drone, he dove for Buck, grabbing his partner and throwing them clear.

The explosion was too close; it scattered dirt and debris all over them, and left Chris deaf and once more trying to get his body under his control.

As the dust cloud drifted over them, coating him in a silt that made him itch, he pulled his hands from his head and took stock. He was bruised and sore, bleeding from a number of places, but nothing serious. He could even handle the headache, as long as he didn't move too fast.

Beside him, Buck groaned, and he found himself on his knees, head reeling but more worried about the other man.

Buck was dirty, and he had a bleeding gash on his forehead, but otherwise, he seemed unhurt.

Un-aged. Chris studied him hard and in detail, with as much concentration as he could give, feeling the twisting pull of time.

When Buck blinked his eyes open, they were confused but clear. "Where are the boys?" he asked, after his gaze found Chris.

The boys. Of course.

But he had to admit, even to himself, that he was worried too, now that Buck seemed to be all right..

He looked around, searching. The Wraith commander was on his back on the ground, presumably dead. Chris knew they didn't have long to deal with this – he needed to find out if Josiah and Nathan had succeeded with their target.

But his gaze was drawn to JD, who, like Chris, was on his knees, hovering over another body.

Vin.

Buck was already pushing himself up, and Chris helped him even before he thought.

"He's not moving!" JD shrieked, all vestiges of whatever maturity he had had in the heat of battle gone. "Buck! Nathan!"

Chris followed Buck, unsteady on his feet, but finding that will moved him almost as well as desperation.

"Water," Buck ordered, already at Vin's side, "JD, get me some water. Chris – you better check on Nathan – we sure as hell could stand to have him if he's available."

Chris fumbled for his radio, finding it both worrisome and a relief when it squawked back into life. He tapped the ear piece, switching the channel to the one Nathan and Josiah were on. For a second, he hesitated, not want to startle them if they were in the chase.

But before he had to decide, Josiah's voice cut through his head, "Goddamit, Ezra, if you're there and dicking around with us – "

"It's me, Josiah," he said shortly, wondering what the hell had happened to Ezra. He looked up to the cave, debating, then turned around and started walking back toward the Wraith bodies. Better safe than sorry. "You guys okay?"

"For the moment. We got the commander on this side," Josiah said tersely. "Last word from Ezra was that one of the drones was on the move."

Chris reached down and snatched up the weapon JD had dropped, automatically checking it for charge. He made a mental note to back track their steps when this was done, to find the weapons he and Buck had lost. They would need them, and probably sooner rather than later.

"We got him. And the other two. By my count, that's all of them. But we've taken casualties, we need Nathan back here – "

"Ezra?" Josiah asked.

"Vin," Chris countered, pointing the revolver at the Wraith commander's body. He debated, wondering if they could fake it – then decided not to take any chances. He shot twice more, once through the head and once through the heart, as if the damned thing was a vampire. Some small part of him named each pull of the trigger, 'Sarah' then 'Adam'.

"Vin?" Josiah demanded, and then, adding to the pounding in his head, Nathan's voice came back "Vin? What the hell was he –"

"Long story," Chris cut him off, the answer more honest than he intended. "Get back here. Out."

He moved over to the drone who JD – it had to have been JD, hadn't it? – had killed first. He was dead as well, but Chris put one more round into him, to be sure.

Now – Ezra.

"He's breathing," Buck said as Chris approached. "But he's looking pretty rough – I'm guessing that he landed hard because of the explosion, probably on his fool head."

"We had to save you," JD explained, his voice a whisper. "We wouldn't let you die, Buck, we wouldn't let them do that to you."

"Vin almost got himself killed, JD!" Buck countered, his voice rising. "And so did you – what were two thinking? That you could waltz right in and save the day, being the well-trained soldiers that you are?"

JD stared at Buck, his eyes welling with tears. Then, suddenly, he yelled, "Well we did, didn't we? Save your sorry ass? And Vin might die because of it!"

The truth of it hit Chris hard – not just because the boys had done it to save Buck, but because he knew then, as he watched the fury in that young face, that this hadn't been a game to the boys. They had known, possibly better than Chris and his team, what was at stake.

They had understood that they were sacrificing themselves, not just to the death, but perhaps . . . perhaps even worse.

He looked down at the unconscious form under Buck's hands. Vin's head was wrapped in a make-shift bandage, blood already seeping through and staining it red.

Red. Not he blue-black of Wraith blood, but the deep red of human blood.

But what he had done for them, for Buck, proved his humanity far more than the color of his blood.

"Where the fuck's Ezra?" Buck growled even as his hands gently felt once more for a pulse point in Vin's neck. "Did you check – "

"He's all right," JD answered, his tone flat but less hostile. "He wouldn't let us do anything, said we could get killed." He shook his head, reaching out to touch Vin's hand where it lay over his chest. "We couldn't make him understand that it didn't matter – we couldn't let you get hurt because of us."

"What did you do to him?" Chris asked, pitching his voice low. He felt Buck turn to look at him, but his attention was on JD.

JD looked up at him then, and he was once more the kid. "Vin knows a lot about drugs – they used to make him take a lot of them. He found something in Nathan's bag – a muscle relaxer. We didn't give him a lot, just enough to make him act, well, drunk."

"What?" a new voice called, and Chris looked up to see Nathan and Josiah coming in fast. "How much did you – "

"Not a lot," JD said more forcefully. "He was awake and talking when we left, telling Vin not to tickle him anymore when he took his guns." He moved out of the way as Nathan joined them, the medic's hands going straight to the boy's body, checking vitals and looking for injuries.

"Get my bag," he ordered distractedly, "and check on Ezra. JD, what the hell happened here – and are those Wraith actually dead? Did anybody check?"

Chris forced himself to his feet, following Josiah into the cave.

Ezra was indeed fine, even though, like the rest of them, he had one hell of a headache for several days, and no little mercy from the ragging about letting two boys get the better of him. Two boys that he hadn't had the guts to shoot.

*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*&amp;*

_'He is one of us.' The wide eyes glittered against the ghastly pale flesh. 'He led us to you.'_

He struggled against the ones holding him, but it was no use. They were bigger and stronger, and though they made no sound, he would have sworn they were laughing at him.

The leader leaned in closer, the wisps of his scrawny beard tickling over Chris' face. 'It is a shame that there are not more of you, but then, there are not many of us. We came only to collect our own. Quite nice of you to care for them so well.'

The Wraith leader licked his lips, his teeth, with all their points, flashing.

But Chris' attention was caught by the one behind him. JD, wide-eyed, looking like a scared little boy, his skin the pasty grey of the Wraith, his dark hair long and hanging over his eyes. He wouldn't take on the complete Wraith form because of the equal balance of Ancient gene in his DNA.

To his other side stood Vin, almost completely transformed. His angular face was even sharper, cheekbones high and prominent under the shiny grey skin. His hair was still dark blond, still long and curly, hanging wild around his face and over his shoulders. There were markings on his forehead and cheekbone, the strange tattoos that designated him as a fighter. They were blue, matching the intensity of his eyes, blue, but still human.

He was still human, and like JD, showing all the terror and confusion the situation warranted.

'Your race's compassion will be your downfall,' the Wraith commander laughed. 'But we can show compassion as well. We will let your deaths be quick. They,' he gestured lazily toward the boys, 'will be the ones to suffer.'

He nodded and Chris watched as Vin was dragged, resisting, to stand before them. Buck was there suddenly, struggling between two more of the silent Wraith, just like Chris.

'Vin,' the other man gasped, his expression unusually worried, 'it's me, Buck. You don't have to - '

But before he could finish the statement, The Wraith commander had drawn back his hand, then plunged it forward, palm down, to rest over Vin's heart.

Vin didn't scream, made no sound at all, but the agony on his face cut through Chris like a knife. He was aware that he was begging, that he was pleading, calling to Vin, the boy he had rescued, the boy he had come to love as his own. Vin wasn't aging, but the Wraith was sucking his soul, torturing him with endless pain.

'His body will heal,' the Wraith laughed, 'that is our gift to him. His gift to us is that we will learn more of the ways of humans.'

Vin's back arched, blood, red blood, streaming from his nose and ears.

Chris cried out –

And woke, sweating and shaking.

And alone.

He hadn't gone to sleep that way; he and Buck had been exhausted, but after the way the day had gone, they had needed the time together, to hold and touch and reaffirm that they were alive. Nathan had checked Buck over, said that as far as he could tell, no permanent damage had been done. It was possible that the Wraith hadn't had time to do more than start the process, but they knew so little about it, that Nathan didn't want to conjecture. He did take blood from Buck – a lot of it, as far as Chris was concerned, wanting to study it.

Chris had promptly dragged Buck off to rest, wanting to have his own personal inspection of the other man. They'd made love, fast and hard, needing just to feel, then fallen asleep clinging to each other.

He didn't have to guess where his lover was, and he wasn't surprised to find him sitting in JD's bed, leaning back against the wall, the boy held tight in his arms, both of them wrapped in blankets and jackets. Buck looked rough – not bad, but lined and exhausted and Chris had worried that the effects were setting in late. But Buck had assured him that he felt fine, just tired, and that Chris was worrying overmuch. His grin as he had said, "I look bad? Now Chris, you know that just ain't possible," had done more to reassure Chris than anything, other than the closeness.

JD's face was puffy, paths of clean skin showing through the pervasive layer of desert dust; he'd been crying and Buck had been holding him.

Chris shook his head, as ever amazed by his partner's compassion. He didn't wake them, even when he pulled one of the blankets lower to cover Buck's sock-clad feet.

He felt eyes on him, then, and looked over to the far corner. Vin wasn't on the bed they'd improvised for him – another seat from the shuttle, which surprised Chris not in the least. What did surprise him was that the boy sat on the floor, his back also to the wall. He wasn't under the seat, even though Chris surmised that he might have been trying to get there when he ran out of energy.

He looked exhausted, his face pale and sweaty, still streaked with blood despite Nathan's attempts to clean it. A concussion, the medic had finally determined. Vin had come around several times, staying conscious long enough for Nathan to determine that there wasn't a fracture and that he was going to have one hell of a headache. And nausea, Chris had thought.

He looked that part now, as well as bruised and battered.

Chris moved over, dropping into a crouch several feet away. He was surprised when the blue eyes held wariness, but the usual fear seemed to be dialed down. Too much pain, Chris thought, remembering the fun of his own concussions. "I'll get Nathan," he murmured, pushing himself to rise.

Vin tried to shake his head, but the look that passed over his face made Chris reach for the bowl they had been using when someone had trouble keeping food down.

But before his knees had started creaking with the effort, he heard a soft sound that he almost didn't identify at first – a voice but not one he knew. He stopped, watching Vin's lips move and trying to reconcile it to the sounds he was hearing.

"Don't, it's all right."

Nathan had theorized that Vin's voice was damaged, and to this point, only a select few of them had heard it – Nathan, then Josiah, and probably Buck. Just watching him try to talk made Chris wince, seeing the actual effort he had to put into it.

The sound was equally as disturbing, not on the ears so much as in the contradiction. It was a low, grinding rasp, sand caught between stones, slightly louder than a whisper. Chris had the sense of an accent, or a difficulty forming words, and there was a short lag between the sound and his brain's interpretation.

Vin held up a hand, as if knowing that Chris was having trouble, and tried again. He formed the words very carefully, his eyes fever-bright with the strain. "Don't git Nate," he said, and Chris had the sense that the boy was yelling – at least in effort.

In reality, the sound was still little more than a whisper.

"He might have something for the pain," Chris argued, his own whisper sounding uncomfortably loud in contrast. Instinctively, he glanced across to Buck and JD, neither of whom had moved.

He looked back, starting to say something else, only to pause as he caught the look of pleading in the wide eyes.

"You sure?" he asked, not yet certain himself that this was the best plan.

But the look of relief he saw convinced him to at least wait.

He settled back to the floor, keeping distance between them. Vin watched him, fear still there, but still lessened by his pain and, perhaps, the events of the day. Chris liked to think that after facing the Wraith, he would seem less scary to the boy.

But even as the thought ghosted through his mind, he remembered the extent to which the boys had gone – what they had offered to save Buck's life. To save his life.

What they had knowingly offered.

"You know what they would have done to you?" he asked, watching the sharp features.

Vin was watching him as well, and for a while, Chris thought that he wasn't going to answer. Then there was a faint twist at the corners of the thin lips, as if he were grinning, or trying to.

"Yeah," the boy said. "I know."

Chris tilted his head as several ideas converged in his mind. "You told Buck to burn the Wraith bodies," he said slowly, remembering Buck and Josiah and their brief conference before setting out to gather all the Wraith dead together - and all the pieces of the ones they had exploded. Chris had thought it disgusting at the time, but when Josiah had argued for it, Chris had subsided. It had been later, as the stench of the roasting flesh had made him sick, that he had heard JD say that it was the best way – because Vin knew.

Vin said nothing, made no change to his expression.

"The scars on your back, on your shoulders," he continued, catching then the flicker of unease. "They burned you. That's how you know that fire kills them."

Again, Vin said nothing, but his hands tensed a little, fingers closing into fists where they lay on his thighs. His gaze drifted away from Chris, trying, Chris thought, to see out the window of the hatch doors, but the angle was wrong.

Other thoughts drifted in, almost crowding as he made connections. "You knew about the self-destruct mechanisms that the drones wear – that was from the link to them, the telepathic connection?"

Vin glanced back, the affirmation in his eyes.

"You were going to kill yourself with him, weren't you. It was just an accident that you rebounded from the impact, and that the explosion knocked you even farther away."

Something in his eyes shifted, and he was no longer a child, but a world-weary, tired man who had tried hard at something, given it everything he had, and failed.

Failed at ending his life, Chris thought, failed at protecting the ones he loved, the wife and son he –

It was in that instant, as he saw himself in the reflection, that he also saw Vin. What had Buck said about them being alike?

But they were, he saw. Both had little now and clung to it desperately – clung to it to the point of not wanting to live without it.

"You'd kill yourself rather than become a Wraith."

A faint quirk to those lips again, but this time, the words were a little clearer. "Ain't gonna hurt y'all."

The idea had been there all along – the awareness had been there. Chris had understood at the heart of things that the boy intended them no harm.

But in the aftermath of today's events, he knew that Vin understood what that intent meant, perhaps better than Chris himself.

They sat in silence for a while, Chris thinking, marveling, really, at how he had underestimated the boy. The boys, as JD had proven his mettle as well.

When the chill finally got through to him, he said softly, "You should lie down. Get some sleep while you can."

Vin's gaze had been toward the door, and Chris turned, seeing that if he canted his head just right, he could see a star or two in the darkness.

He looked back, found the eyes on him, and saw the fear again, realizing only then that it had been gone for a short while.

"Or you could stay there," he countered. He got to his knees, wincing with the pain of it, then stretched toward what had been Vin's bed, grabbing at the blankets. "But Nathan will be pissed if you catch a cold on top of everything else."

He pulled, then yanked hard when the cloth didn't cooperate. When they finally came free, he almost tumbled backwards, catching himself at the last minute.

For his efforts, he earned a smile. A real one. As it had with Josiah that afternoon near the ruins, it changed Vin's face entirely.

Vin nodded his thanks, a spare movement that reminded them both that his head still hurt. Between them, they cocooned him, Chris remaining at enough of a distance to keep the fear only a vague shadow on the young face.

"Night," he murmured as he stood.

Vin looked up at him.

As the door to his room slid open, he turned, surveying the room. Buck and JD still slept on JD's bed, dark heads together. Vin was staring once more at the stars, finding his own peace.

The Wraith would be back. But now they had a ship, a small transport, that Josiah thought he might be able to figure out how to fly – at least as far as the gate of the Ancestors that orbited the planet, which would let them get – somewhere. Somewhere else.

And he had two more members to his team.

Shaking his head, he turned and walked across the room, settling in beside his partner. Without waking, Buck shifted to lean against him, stretching JD into his lap as well.

He didn't have to look to know that Vin was smiling.


End file.
